HELIX
Yes, HELIX was the Wordle answer on July 21, 2021 (Wordle #32).
As an opener, it rules out about 91.1% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈhiːlɪks/
- Noun
-
A curve on the surface of a cylinder or cone such that its angle to a plane perpendicular to the axis is constant; the three-dimensional curve seen in a screw or a spiral staircase.
- Noun
-
A small volute under the abacus of a Corinthian capital.
- Verb
-
To form or cause to form a helix.
Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.
Wordle status
A word can be a playable guess without being a possible answer.
Playable guess
YesIncluded in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.
Possible answer
YesIncluded among the answers considered by the solver.
Past Wordle answer
Used oncePast Wordle answer: July 21, 2021 (#32).
See the full page for that puzzle: July 21, 2021 (#32).
The possible-answer list is the solver's current list and may change when Wordle adds new answers.
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See what the public sample says →How HELIX performs as a guess
HELIX is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,374 when every answer is treated as equally likely.
Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 80.9% of games, misses completely in 19.1%, and leaves about 211 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #12,590 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.83 guesses in games solved within six turns.
Try your feedback pattern
Tap the tiles to match your feedback, then see the ranked follow-up guesses.
Useful pattern pages
If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.
First-turn measures
All four describe HELIX used as an opening guess. Entropy is the same idea as “avg ruled out” on a log scale: a higher number means the guess splits the possible answers into more, smaller groups.
As an opening guess: previous benchmark
How HELIX performed in the previous complete opener benchmark, against its captured answer snapshot. These research figures are separate from today's solver recommendations. See the data page for the method.
Composition
Feedback chances
Example solver route
One example route used by the solver.
This solver benchmark reaches HELIX in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
HELIX can come back 72 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:
Letter-value totals
Base letter-value totals for HELIX; these do not show whether either game accepts the word.
Scrabble
Words With Friends
Scores shown are base values without double/triple letter or word bonuses.
Try next
Strategy after playing HELIX
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to HELIX.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing HELIX:
Research on HELIX
Game-tree analysis and word research for HELIX, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with HELIX, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.82 guesses and ranks #11,435 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
In hard mode it averages 3.95 guesses at best and is rank #5,286 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.83; proven optimal play reaches 3.82. The fixed strategy accounts for the difference.
These figures come from exhaustive game-tree search and are exact for the NYT lists of July 2023 (3,158 answers). They do not use the site's working answer pool.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, HELIX is a kind of curve or construction.
Synonyms spiral coil
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- HELIX sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 2 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as a word most readers meet regularly.
In a sentence
The double helix that encodes our genome is an elegant structure.
Hedera helix is an ivy that can be grown indoors.
Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD); Word relations: Open English WordNet, 2025 edition (CC BY 4.0); Word frequency: wordfreq (data CC BY-SA 4.0).